Innovative profiling work done at new UCL factory in Dalton, KZN
First known as a wattle bark milling company in KZN, UCL has evolved over the past 100 years into a large-scale enterprise that manufactures wattle tannin extracts and produces sugar and pine lumber. It operates a substantial swath of farmland and also supplies agricultural input materials.
A significant project that UCL has recently undertaken is the development of a new modern warehouse of Gross Leaseable Area (GLA) 11,530m2 in Dalton, KZN, which took place in 2024/2025. This development falls within the Umshwathi Local Municipality district and is highly respected as adding to the agriculture and manufacturing prowess of the district.
Feroqs Consult acted as quantity surveyor and principal agent on the project with one project manager and two quantity managers dedicated to the construction works.
Confirming the successful use of Safintra’s products, Jurgens Hanekom of Feroqs says: “We utilised roof and sidewall claddings in AZ150 material as its associated coating is regarded as highly beneficial due to its ability to be rolled in longer lengths and resistance to the elements. Ultimately most of the roll forming was undertaken by Safintra on site, with the smaller sheets and flashings rolled off-site and delivered.”
Dapper de West, of the appointed architectural firm, Bespoke Architects (Mpumalanga) confirms the building required 12 978m2 of Safal Steel’s COLORPLUS® Textured roofing material in color Thunderstorm 0.53 AZ150. This was profiled by Safintra as described below.
According to John Carter of Bespoke Architects, the factory features some rather interesting design elements, including the choice of textured roofing and walling steel materials. Certain of the roofing sheets were curved and were of substantial length.
“The building structure comprises a combination of concrete columns on a raft foundation, which supports a structural steel superstructure configured to suit the functional requirements of the process within each space. The roof structure was designed around the sheeting material and profile properties to achieve a self-sprung curvature on the apex of the roof to reduce the total building height and to suit the context of the building in the rolling landscape of the midlands.”
Handling the climate
“Roof insulation is installed in the process area in between purlins to achieve a clean finish to the soffit of the building. Purlins were pre-punched to allow for fixing of the sprinklers to accommodate this detail”, he explains.
Safintra products used – roofing and walling
“The areas of the building which accommodate ambient temperature processing, were clad with Safintra’s TRIMFLUTEⓇ sheeting only, offering a subtle square fluted profile. The flute and discrete stiffening ribs in the pan give the profile its strength as well as its long spanning capabilities.
“However, the process/packing area was clad with a combination of polycarbonate panels and insulation board behind the sheeting. As applied to the north façade, polycarbonate panels allow natural light into the building, while providing insulation from the external temperatures. Then, the cold rooms which form part of the building envelope, were constructed from insulated panels which we ordered to have the external face in a light grey sheet instead of the standard white face” he says.
What the Textured COLORPLUS® coating in SAFLOK 700Ⓡ and WIDEDEKⓇachieved for the architects
Carter further explains: “We specified the AZ150 Textured Coating on COLORPLUS® in both Safintra profiles used due to two main factors: oil canning as well as location. Considering the site slope is significant, we took into account that the roof would be visible from further up the site toward the sugar mill and therefore any oil canning would be visible in a dark gloss finish. We anticipated oil canning to take place, as a result of the span of the sheeting, which would be further increased by the self-sprung curve of the roof.
“The second consideration is the environment in which the building is situated, next to the sugar mill and cane fields. So the exterior of the building is exposed to ash from burning of the sugar cane and the bagasse. This would be more visible on a gloss coated sheet and spoil its aesthetic appeal. The roofing profile was selected to achieve as low as possible roof pitch and to apply continuous sheets in lengths of an excess of 75m in order to omit the requirement of ridge flashings.
“Hence, the profile allowed for the curved roof design to suit the concept of blending the building into the rolling hills of the Natal Midlands”.
Vera Benecke, Safintra’s Key Accounts Manager in Durban, comments that the company is satisfied with the outcomes of this inspiring agricultural sector build project, where the innovation of the architects came out in exploring material options in coatings other than the norm.
“This was complemented by the excellent roofing and cladding contract work undertaken by our esteemed client, MJC Roofing”, she says.
Project vital statistics
Roofing: SAFLOK 700Ⓡ clip fixed roofing profile using Safal Steel Colorplus AZ150 TCT 0.53 in colour Thunderstorm Textured. 14 000m2
Cladding: WIDEDEKⓇ roofing profile using Safal Steel’s Colorplus AZ150 TCT 0.53 in colour Thunderstorm Textured – 2 000m2
TRIMFLUTEⓇ – used as cladding in some aspects of the sidewalls.
Project Team
Owner/developer: UCL
Project manager: Feroqs Consult
Project architect: Bespoke Architects
Consulting engineers: ACE
Site photos courtesy of: Lorenzo Taverna-Turisan, Construction Supervisor of Alliance Consulting Engineers
Contractor team:
According to Jurgens Hanekom, seven main contractors were appointed, each with their own specialist works package. These are:
Electrical Installation – Ferlo Electrical
Bulk Earthworks – Sealcoat
Raft Contract and Civils – Robertson & Pool Construction
Superstructure – Robertson & Pool Construction
Structural Steel – NJW Engineering
Roof Sheeting and Cladding – MJC Industrial Roofs
Fire Protection – FireCo
Electrical Installation – Ferlo Electrical
